Hundreds unite at Relay for Life of Hanover

The annual event raises money to fight cancer

Participants in the 2014 Hanover Relay For Life walk their laps at the South Western High School football stadium on June 11. (Shane Dunlap - The Evening Sun)

Allyson Stine, 10, of New Park, left, gets a custom made cupcake from Maxine Glass, right, and Christy Suddreth, middle, during the 2014 Hanover Relay for Life at South Western High School. Suddreth, who was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2009, and Glass were with the team Lunch Ladies Against Lymphoma on June 11 at the Hanover Relay for Life. (Shane Dunlap - The Evening Sun)

The 14th annual Relay For Life of Hanover kicked off Friday at noon on the track of South Western High School.

This year, 48 teams and roughly 750 individuals participated in the 24-hour event.

Despite the warm temperatures and what was sure to be a long night, the track was filled with people laughing and smiling. They were smiles of people who were united under the same cause. They were smiles of people filled with the hope that each year, the list of cancer survivors grows, and that specialists are a few steps closer to finding a cure.

As of midnight on Friday, $190,000 had been raised for the American Cancer Society and 30 people cut and donated their hair for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, said Jenna Klunk, the Relay For Life specialist from the American Cancer Society.

A personal journey

Christy Suddreth was walking in her fourth Relay For Life on Friday, and for her, the walk was personal.

In 2009, the Hanover resident was told by she has stage four follicular lymphoma.

One year later, the former South Western High School cafeteria worker teamed up with her former co-workers to start the Lunch Ladies Against Lymphoma team, and they have been participating in the relay ever since.

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"We created Lunch Ladies Against Lymphoma because we had four out of our 20 co-workers be diagnosed with cancer," Suddreth said. "I am still fighting it and we had one who actually passed away."

Known for their lime-green shirts, the group raised around $1,000 this year.

"It feels great to know that they are not only behind me as friends," Suddreth said. "But they are out there gathering donations and behind me 100 percent. It feels good."

In memory of Kelly

Hanover Jaycees member Matt Boyer loves that so many people come out to support people who have defeated or are still fighting cancer as well as to remember those who lost their battle.

"The camaraderie amongst everyone here at the relay is incredible," he said. "Cancer has impacted everyone"

On Memorial Day weekend, cancer took the life of a member of the Jaycees community. Kelly Myers lost her battle with ovarian cancer, and that was fresh on Boyer's mind at the Hanover relay.

10 years and counting

Three years ago this October, Loretta Nicol lost her husband to cancer.

As she walked around the track, she paid special attention to the names on the luminaries and said a little prayer for them.

"It just touches your heart," she said. "This is a great thing."

Nicole, who was participating in the relay for the 10th year in a row, said she enjoys meeting people who have either beaten cancer or continue to battling against it.

"I met a woman here earlier who is a survivor of cancer," she said. "She developed it in her 20s and here she is in her early 40s or 50s and you are like, 'Praise God.'"

What started as joining a group because the people were friendly and said they needed some walkers has become a yearly must-do for Nicol.

"The people you meet out here is make it so worth it, and it's for a great cause," she said. "Everyone has been affected by cancer. We all need to be here to help each other and support each other."

"Party with a purpose"

Lori Staub and Dottie Trostle "party with a purpose."

The motto, coined by groups of Jimmy Buffet fans known as Parrot Heads, inspires the women to have fun while doing good.

"Our whole goal is to make money for local charities and have fun doing it," Staub said. "Last year we raised a total of $250,000 for charities." This year, the group has already raised $25,000 for the relay alone.

"We come out here because cancer never rests," Staub said. "You are out here walking and in your mind you are thinking of the people suffering."

The group started participating in Relay For Life in 2008 in York and in 2012 they started doing Hanover's relay. To date, Trostle said, the group has grown to include five tents that side-by-side during the 24-hour events.

"We come here to work together to try to find a cure for cancer and to save the ones that are still battling."

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